Chapter Text
When the news dropped that Denki was the first in their graduating class to break the Top 50 Heroes list, Katsuki laughed- and not even derisively. Hitoshi knew this because he was one room away, chilling on the couch while Katsuki cooked dinner.
“I knew Sparky would pull some crazy shit after high school,” Katsuki snorted, poking his head out of the kitchen to stare at Hitoshi. “Yo, your boyfriend just broke top 50.”
“Not my boyfriend,” Hitoshi said out of reflex, and then paused. “He what?”
Katsuki came out to grab the remote and turned on the TV (courtesy of Yamada), flipping through it until a news channel came up. The woman on screen was talking about the recent hero rankings, and Hitoshi stared at the photo of Denki in the corner, cheesy smile and thumbs up displayed as the reporter discussed his sudden rise to his current spot at number 49.
Hitoshi grabbed his phone. “I’m calling that fucker. How could he not tell m- us?”
“I bet he doesn’t even know,” Katsuki snickered, heading back to the kitchen.
Denki picked up on the second ring.
“Yo,” he greeted, slightly out of breath. He was in a dimly lit room and - were those pipes behind him? Was he underground?
“No, not yo,” Hitoshi bitched at him. “When the fuck were you gonna tell me?”
“Tell you what?” Denki asked, honest confusion written on his face.
Katsuki cackled from the kitchen. “Wait, are you gonna tell him?” he asked, coming back to look over Hitoshi’s shoulder.
“Tell me what?” Denki wailed. He was definitely underground. Somewhere. What the fuck was he doing?
Hitoshi turned on his screen recording feature, and Katsuki looked absolutely delighted from where their faces were reflected in the top right corner of the screen.
“This is too good,” he said.
“Denki, the hero ratings dropped today,” Hitoshi told him finally. “You’re number 49.”
Denki’s jaw dropped and he stopped walking. “Huh?!”
“Yeah, Dunceface, you made it first,” Katsuki said, still cackling.
“I- huh?!”
“You said that already,” Hitoshi reminded him in bemusement.
“But- not Deku? Or Shouto? Or- or you, Katsuki?”
“Who said we were on a first-name basis,” Katsuki grumbled, but Denki didn’t even notice and Katsuki didn’t correct him.
“I thought for sure it would at least-“
A shadowy figure moved in the background behind Denki, and Katsuki shoved his face over the back of the couch and into the screen of Hitoshi’s phone. “Behind you, you dolt!”
“Ah, shit. ” Denki turned around, curling his free hand into a fist with little sparks of lightning wrapped around his fingers. He dodged something (the camera shook too much to tell) and then decked the attacker right in the face.
“Are you working right now?” Hitoshi asked incredulously.
“Hah! In your face, villain! Literally! You just got taken down by a top 50 hero!” Denki reversed the camera to show the unconscious villain sprawled out on the floor. “I can’t believe this!”
He turned the camera back to his face and beamed at them.
“How did you not know?” Hitoshi sighed. “Isn’t your manager, like, blowing up your phone? Or literally everyone you know?”
“Oh yeah, I’m working so my phone is muted.”
“Then why the fuck did you pick up when I called?”
“I have your contact set up so it’s not muted!” Kaminari said cheerfully, unceremoniously rolling the unconscious villain over and snapping handcuffs on him.
Katsuki started cackling again as Hitoshi just stared at Denki.
“You have me unmuted and not your manager?” Hitoshi asked in surprise. He felt a mixture of concern and flattery at the thought, and he tried to push both out of his mind.
“Uh, yeah. I must have missed his calls. I’m just down here cleaning up stragglers and then I’ll be done with this mission! Ah shit, there’s more coming. I’m gonna have to set you down for a second!”
Hitoshi watched in disbelief as Denki propped his phone up on a pipe, focusing intently on balancing it perfectly. He sent a thumbs up their way and then backed up, grinning like the idiot he was.
“Come get some!” he yelled, and several people came into view. Hitoshi cringed, loath to admit he was worried for his safety, but then the tunnel lit up as Denki swung his arm back, electricity shooting out from his hand in a straight line. Suddenly it curled, and Denki swung it back around like a whip, snapping it around the group of villains and then tasing them with it. The electricity dissipated and he whooped in victory as they fell to the ground.
“Did you see that? Did you see that? That was sick!”
“Did you rip-off Blackwhip from fuckin Deku?” Katsuki asked. Hitoshi glanced back at him.
“Fuck yeah I did! And he helped!”
“Are you . . . proud of him?” Hitoshi asked Katsuki in surprise at the other boy’s tone.
“Tch, no,” Katsuki said unconvincingly, crossing his arms. “I am not. You’re proud of him, or whatever.”
“Aww, Bakubro!” Kaminari cooed, shoving his face in the camera as he picked his phone back up. “I gotta turn them in but then I should be home for dinner! I finally got set up to do my paperwork from home!”
“Home for dinner?“ Katsuki snarled. “I already started cooking for two!”
“It’s fine! I’ll pick up some McDonalds!” Denki said, unphased.
“Like hell you will! I’m not letting you eat that garbage, dumbass!”
Katsuki stormed off to the kitchen, presumably to start making more food. Hitoshi rolled his eyes and ended the screen recording.
“You heard the man. Just get your ass home so I don’t have to deal with him alone.”
“Aww, did you miss me?” Denki grinned, before he called in the found villains through his earpiece.
“Absolutely not,” Hitoshi lied. Denki had only been gone for a few days, but when someone was as chatty and borderline overly-supportive as the other boy, it was hard not to notice when he wasn’t present.
“I’ll be home soon, boo,” Denki grinned, blowing a kiss and ending the call. Hitoshi saw his own red face reflected in his phone and threw it down.
“I hate him,” he said.
“No you don’t,” Katsuki grouched from the kitchen. Hitoshi flipped him off and pretended that Katsuki laughing didn’t make him smile a little.
Aizawa and Yamada had adopted Hitoshi before he’d even been integrated into class 1-A several years ago. This was one of the worst-kept secrets in the entire class, followed by the fact that the two teachers were married. It was basically common knowledge that both Eri and Hitoshi were part of their family, but possibly the best -kept secret in the entire class was that a year later, Katsuki had been spat out into the foster care system and shortly after was welcomed into the Yamada + Aizawa (+ Hitoshi + Eri) home as well, just long enough to let him turn 18 and graduate.
Katsuki didn’t like to talk about it. Over the last few years, Hitoshi had picked up enough chunks of the story to piece together that it was traumatizing and definitely not something to push the other boy to talk about, and since he’d made himself a reputation as someone who didn’t talk about feelings or his personal life, Katsuki had managed to avoid anyone else finding out.
That was, until Denki ended up moving in with them.
It was an unexpected turn of events, and Hitoshi’s extremely large and embarrassingly long-term crush on the other boy made him equally loathe and adore living with him. Recently signed to various agencies and scrambling for cheap fresh-out-of-school housing, class 3-A had split into random groups of twos and threes, determined mainly by romantic relationships or proximity to agencies. When Katsuki and Hitoshi realized their agencies were fairly close to each other, they had decided to find a place together and flee Aizawa and Yamada’s nest, mostly due to an unspoken but mutual feeling that they owed their teachers enough already. Yamada refused to be pushed away, however, and had somehow managed to wrangle them enough to furnish half of their apartment (thanks for the TV, Papa).
After Denki discovered that he and Hitoshi had both signed with the same agency, he’d pouted and clumsily bumbled his way into Katsuki begrudgingly agreeing to a three bedroom apartment. The other boy would never admit it, but Katsuki had a soft spot for the Bakusquad, and Kaminari’s endearing enthusiasm often wore him down. In contrast to his reputation for being the class idiot, it only took Denki about a week to find out that Katsuki had been living with Hitoshi’s family.
Despite Katsuki’s soft spot, Hitoshi still found himself wondering what made him agree to the arrangement. He knew that Katsuki only moved in with him because he was familiar enough with his backstory to handle the sleep terrors and mood swings for more extended periods of time without asking questions, and Kirishima had moved in with Sero and Mina. But Denki changed the dynamic from two brooding 18 year olds convinced that they knew everything and could communicate in grunts, to two brooding 18 year olds and a ray of hyperactive ADHD sunshine that whirled in and out of the apartment like a hurricane, a presence you couldn’t ignore when it was there and couldn’t forget when it was gone.
Still, the dynamic they’d settled into over the last year was one that Hitoshi had to admit he very much enjoyed. When they were all home, Katsuki would cook and Hitoshi would wash the dishes, pretending his whole body didn’t feel like it was on fire when he’d touch Denki’s hand while passing him dishes to dry. Denki would get hit with a hyperactive episode and deep clean the apartment from top to bottom, and Katsuki would make him the blueberry bread he loved so much as a thank you he’d never admit was a thank you . Hitoshi would snag Denki’s packed lunch along with his own on their way to work when the other boy forgot it (which was always) and Katsuki would act like he had no idea who packed the lunches whenever he wasn’t gone for missions overnight. And Katsuki wouldn’t complain when they’d have an occasional movie night pressed together on the couch because Denki wedged in with them instead of taking the chair or the floor. He was always last to sit down and Hitoshi started to wonder if he did it on purpose.
Hitoshi knew that even with their emotional constipation, he and Katsuki cared about each other. Despite that, life in the apartment just wouldn’t have been the same without Denki, and he knew that would have been true even without his absolutely ginormous crush on him. The one that Katsuki definitely didn’t bitch at him about all the time.
Katsuki had grown a lot, and for a long time one of Hitoshi’s favorite developments in his character growth was his attachment to Eri. After living so close to the dorms, Eri had grown very accustomed to a close proximity with class 3-A, and both her adopted brother and her new best friend Katsuki moving out had caused her a lot of distress. Katsuki’s solution? Sleepovers. The way Katsuki made it happen? Eri took his bed and he slept on the couch. Every time. The first time, Denki took him by surprise and pinched his cheeks, cooing at him for being a great big brother.
Needless to say, they weren’t getting their security deposit back.
But this current Katsuki, the one cooking Denki an elaborate dinner and yelling to Hitoshi about how he’d totally known Denki was gonna pull some stunt like this after high school and how he, Katsuki, was the superior observer of the whole class because he’d known for a while how good Denki could be at hero work, well, that was a new favorite. Katsuki “mellowing out” wasn’t something very obvious to an outside observer. He still yelled a lot, he still declared himself the best frequently, and he still took everything as a challenge. But he started laughing at things that weren’t just other people’s misfortune. He smiled, sometimes, and not only when people fell over or hit their head on something. And he was proud of Denki. He was excusing it as pride in himself for being smart and observant, but he was obviously very proud of the other boy.
“He’d better be home soon,” Katsuki complained, covering the food up and coming out of the kitchen to stare at their front door. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, scowling.
“You are such a softie,” Hitoshi snickered.
“A softie?!” Katsuki yelled in indignation. “I just don’t want the food to get cold! That fucking idiot is always running behind schedule. I can’t stand him.”
“Mhmm.” Hitoshi flipped channels again and landed on another news station.
“- part in taking down All For One his first year at UA High was overlooked at the time, but recent research has recovered the reports and Kaminari Denki’s then-untapped potential-“
The door flew open and Denki appeared in the doorway, popping a pose and flashing a brilliant smile.
“Number 49 hero, baby!” he cheered.
“Get the fuck over here and eat your damn food!” Katsuki bitched at him. “Nobody cares about your hero ranking garbage!”
Denki closed the door, his grin never faltering. “Bakubro,” he swooned, “I’m so touched, you look like a proud parent.”
“I think you’re a fucking hot mess, is what I think,” Katsuki threw back over his shoulder as he headed into the kitchen and started dishing up the food.
“So you think I’m hot,” Denki said, pointing finger guns at Katsuki’s back.
“Oh you’ll be hot when I blast you to smithereens,” Katsuki grumbled.
Denki pulled off his shoes and jacket before clambering over the back of the couch to curl into Hitoshi’s side. Hitoshi, as usual, held very still until his brain computed that Denki was touching him and he hadn’t exploded. Yet.
“Are you watching a news story about me?” Denki asked, and Hitoshi realized he hadn’t changed the channel.
“Yeah, you’re kind of a hit on tv right now,” Hitoshi told him. “Our class had quite a bit of fame in our first year and I think you hitting the top 50 has revitalized that short-lived craze.”
Denki propped his feet up on the coffee table and leaned back, hands behind his head. “That’s showbiz, baby,” he said.
“I hate you,” Hitoshi lied.
Katsuki smacked Denki’s knees as he brought over his plate of food. “Feet off the table, you disgusting redneck.”
“Katsuki, I will kiss you right now,” Denki said as he looked at the plate of food. “You have no idea what kinds of garbage I had to eat while I was gone.”
“Don’t even tell me. Eat your damn food, you ADHD disaster,” Katsuki scoffed.
“Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disaster,” Denki cackled. “I think you’re just in awe of me and my newfound fame.”
“He’s proud of you,” Hitoshi said, and then ducked as a serving fork flew past his head and embedded itself in the wall. “There goes our security deposit.”
“Oh, it’s long gone,” Denki said around his mouthful of food.
“Have you called your manager yet?” Hitoshi asked him, trying not to laugh as Katsuki brought his plate of food to him as well like some sort of suburban mom.
“Nope! I’ll call him after food. He’ll survive an extra hour. Besides, I missed my boys!”
“Not your boy,” Katsuki yelled from the kitchen.
“My broskis!”
“Not your broski!”
“The lights of my life!”
“Oh, I’ll light up your life!” Hitoshi heard a crackling sound from the kitchen and decided to deflect.
“Just so you know, I definitely got a screen recording of your FaceTime call,” he told Denki.
“Did you get the electric whip move?!” Denki almost dropped his plate.
“Sure did. And me telling you the news.”
“Hitoshi, I could also kiss you right now,” Denki said emphatically, right before shoving food into his mouth. Hitoshi could feel his face turning bright red.
“Do it, bitch,” Katsuki said, and Denki choked.
“Katsuki, shut the fuck up,” Hitoshi groaned at him, slamming his hand on Denki’s back as the other boy leaned over coughing.
“I hate it here,” Katsuki grumbled.
Hitoshi woke up even grumpier than usual. He’d stayed up way too late catching up with Denki and talking about the new move he’d shown them over FaceTime, and then he’d stayed up even longer after that to wallow in self-hatred over his ridiculous crush. He could almost hear Katsuki telling him to get a grip.
He’d watched the screen recording several times after sending it to Denki, and the other boy had posted it and tagged him and Katsuki as his “best friends and roomies.” Hitoshi just wanted to scream. He should be grateful for what he had, but he’d wanted more since their second year at UA. He was so pathetic.
Denki was too bright, too talented, too happy for someone like Hitoshi; someone quiet, dull, a total wallflower. He’d known it all along, but Denki breaking into the top 50 heroes had just solidified it. One day, he was gonna lose him entirely to the life of fame and fortune. And he’d be happy for him, even if it hurt.
But right now he had a role in Denki’s life, he reminded himself as he walked out to the kitchen and saw Denki waiting there for him to head to work with him. He was holding Hitoshi’s thermos out to him and Hitoshi realized he’d made coffee for him.
His chest tightened at the thought and he smiled slightly.
“There it is!” Denki cheered. “Needed a smile of yours today. You ready to go?”
He was heading for the door, and Hitoshi rolled his eyes (he was not blushing) and grabbed their lunches from the fridge before following.
“So I called my manager and he was totally pissed, but then I reminded him I broke the top 50 and he got over it so fast,” Denki rattled on, skipping a bit to keep up with Hitoshi’s much longer legs. “Ah shit, I never unmuted my phone. I’ll deal with it later.”
“You’re gonna be bombarded once you check it,” Hitoshi told him, and Denki groaned.
“I know. I’m paralyzed by the knowledge which is why I haven’t gotten around to it yet.”
Hitoshi rolled his eyes as they reached the bus stop, following Denki onto the bus and testing the temperature of the coffee in his thermos.
“Are you Chargebolt?” A timid voice broke the silence, and Hitoshi turned to see a young boy tugging on Denki’s sleeve.
Denki lit up like a Christmas tree. “I am!” He said excitedly. “What’s your name?”
“Akio!“ the little boy beamed back at him. “I saw you on tv!”
“That’s so cool!” Denki fell into conversation with the kid, but Hitoshi got sidetracked when he saw a couple of girls holding up their phones and giggling. They were either taking photos or a video, and Hitoshi heard one of them say Denki’s hero name. So Denki was already a celebrity. That was fine. It was all fine.
“Is he Hypnos?” Hitoshi heard an ill-concealed whisper next to him from the boy Denki was speaking to. He turned to see that the kid- Akio?- was looking at him intently.
“He is!” Denki confirmed, beaming at Hitoshi like a proud parent. “He’s super cool!”
“I saw him online!” Akio said, staring right at Hitoshi even though he was speaking as if Hitoshi couldn’t hear.
He suddenly felt very awkward. Should he say hi? Should he wave? What was he supposed to do? He’d never had someone recognize him as, well, a hero before. As Hypnos. It was extremely conflicting. He settled for a wave and a small smile, and the kid got called away by his very apologetic mother, but it wasn’t the end of it. Several people of varying ages introduced themselves to Denki before they reached the stop, and Hitoshi was very ready to get off the bus.
He was being selfish, he knew that. It wasn’t that he didn’t want Denki to succeed, he’d just thought he’d have a little more time before the whole country saw what he could see in him. But that was ridiculous, and he was a terrible friend for even thinking it. A terrible person. God, he was so selfish.
He couldn’t wallow for long, however, as they soon reached The Lurkers agency and Denki bounded excitedly through the door, chattering on about how he had a meeting with Edgeshot that morning and had no idea why. Probably because you broke the top 50 heroes at 19, Hitoshi wanted to say, but Denki hadn’t even stopped to breathe.
The Lurkers had grown considerably in the years since Denki first interned with them. Back in the day, they had been only a trio, but had consisted of the number 4, number 7, and number 23 heroes: Edgeshot, Kamui Woods, and Mt. Lady respectively. When the dust had settled after All For One’s final defeat, it had shown a hero system in absolute shambles. The number 1 spot had fallen from All Might’s weakened hands into Endeavor’s undeniably unworthy ones, and many heroes had quit while hero course students fought a war.
In the end, it was Hawks who’d scraped things back together, the same way he’d pulled Endeavor out of his pit of self-pity and forced him to look at himself and do better. Endeavor was still on a long leave of absence, but his agency was in-tact and being managed by Hawks while Endeavor funded it and ensured his employees’ job security. The number 1 spot had then fallen to Hawks, but from the few times Hitoshi had interacted with him, he felt it was much more deserved in his hands. The man had brought the remaining heroes back together and reminded them that they were public servants and not just celebrities there to take photos and look flashy, despite how much fun he often had with the paparazzi. He’d helped bring back a focus they hadn’t had in their time under All Might, and agencies started taking their training and management more seriously.
It was around that time that The Lurkers started hiring more heroes, and fortunately Hitoshi and Denki had made the cut as fresh graduates. By the time they’d started there, the agency had expanded quite a bit, something that Hitoshi was grateful for as it helped spread out the patrols and minimized the paperwork they had to fill out alone.
Despite how much it had grown, however, neither of them was expecting the absolute chaos that they walked into as they entered the building.
“It’s our very own Lurker celebrities!” someone greeted them, and they whirled around in sync to see Fukuda Michi, pro hero Simulator who had graduated a year before them and worked at the agency. Fukuda’s quirk was Projection, which allowed them to warp what other people saw, such as the location they were at or who they were speaking with. Projection also allowed Simulator to change their appearance at random, which they often did depending on how they were feeling that day. Hitoshi had bonded with them over having stereotyped villain quirks, and it had made starting at the new agency a lot easier.
“What is going on?” Hitoshi asked them, gesturing to indicate that he was referring to the high noise levels and large number of strangers in the building.
Simulator crossed their arms and stared at them in confusion. “Do you not realize that the chaos in here is all your fault?”
“Hey,” Hitoshi said defensively, holding up his hands. “This is all Denki’s fault, I had nothing to do with it.”
“It absolutely is not only Chargebolt’s fault,” Simulator snickered. “We’ve got paparazzi here wanting to talk to you about your viral video, but we’re trying to stave them off for now. Edgeshot and Kamui Woods want to talk over Chargebolt’s new ranking and your sudden uptick in popularity before we talk to any press about it.”
“Video?” Denki asked, but Hitoshi was already putting the pieces together.
“Denks, have you been on social media since you posted my screen recording?” Hitoshi asked him, and Denki started fishing for his phone.
“No, I forgot to unmute my phone,” he said. “You don’t think-“
Simulator was laughing at them. “You two and Ground Zero are a hit online at the moment. Chargebolt likely saw an increase in followers after he ended up on the news, and from there the video he posted last night took off. Sick new move, by the way.”
“Thank you!” Denki beamed. “I can’t believe ‘Toshi caught it on camera.”
Hitoshi was also fishing out his own phone and opening his social media. He kept notifications off for most apps as he didn’t care much for social media and mostly used it to keep up with his classmates, and he was astounded to open Twitter to see tens of thousands of new followers and an unbelievable number of notifications from the post Denki had tagged him in.
His phone started buzzing and Katsuki’s contact photo filled the screen.
“Denki, what the fuck have you done?” Hitoshi groaned before answering the call.
“What the fuck did Denki do?” Katsuki yelled into the phone, and Denki threw up his hands and rolled his eyes.
“Made my screen recording go viral, I guess,” Hitoshi sighed. Denki was scrolling through his notifications and liking damn near every other reply under the tweet.
“I woke up to my phone blowing up but didn’t look until I got to work. I forgot I even had a Twitter account,” Katsuki complained. “Denki’s spotlight is contagious.”
“How did you suddenly shoot to the top 50?” Hitoshi asked, and Denki immediately started fidgeting.
“Uh, I can’t really talk about it,” he said. “But it has to do with my last trip, I think.”
“That’s so fucking stupid! I will remove his fingernails one by one if he doesn’t explain himself when I get home tonight- I am not afraid to pull teeth too,” Katsuki threatened.
“Uh, yeah, I’ll pass that on,” Hitoshi said before promptly hanging up. “Katsuki’s pissed.”
“Ground Zero?” Simulator asked, and Hitoshi just groaned again.
“I can not live with two celebrities,” he said.
“Katsuki’s very popular on Twitter,” Denki supplied helpfully, still scrolling through his phone. “Turns out the demographic he was missing back when everyone said he’d never be popular with the public was young women.”
“No way,” Hitoshi snickered, pulling up Twitter again and weeding through the replies. “Oh my god, he’s got a fan page here.”
“Oo! Show me, show me!”
Denki came out of his meeting with Edgeshot in a spectacular mood, and then they were sat down together to discuss how to approach the sudden rise in public interest. Hitoshi relayed the story of the bus ride, and Edgeshot informed them that they’d be getting picked up for work from then on out. Public transportation was likely to get more and more difficult for them (Denki) as time went on.
Edgeshot kept speaking to them as if this applied to both, but Hitoshi knew that was just his boss being nice because he knew they lived together. Hitoshi was most definitely not going to have paparazzi and fan problems unless he was with Denki, that was for sure.
Most of the day was spent individually with their managers discussing what the future might look like and how getting to and from work would look from there on out. Hitoshi was told he’d likely see a pay increase soon as popularity rose, but he once again felt there was no need.
He wasn’t trying to be down on himself, he had just never been a flashy person. His quirk, his personality, his looks; it was all very background character-esque and that was fine. What mattered was his family and friends, and so far Denki hadn’t kicked him to the curb.
The day was far more exhausting than any patrol or even emergency mission had been in a while, and Hitoshi decided he seriously hated paper work and politics. He was just grateful his agency provided managers who worked with the heroes and could help with these sorts of things.
When it was finally time to go home, Denki was extremely excited about being driven home.
“I can’t wait to tell Katsuki about this,” he said, “he’s gotta take the bus like a peasant.”
“I’m sure he’ll be fine. Maybe his newfound following online will get him his own ride to work,” Hitoshi responded, still uncomfortable taking a fancy car home. He felt like he didn’t belong in it.
The feeling only got stronger when they pulled over and saw Katsuki laying on the steps to their building.
“Katsuki?” Hitoshi flew out of the car and ran over to him as Denki stopped to talk to the driver before following.
Katsuki sat up with a groan and glared at them, but all Denki and Hitoshi could do was gape at him. Every visible part of his body was bruised, scraped, cut, or dirty. His costume was torn, and he was holding his left arm close to his chest.
“What the fuck happened to you?” Hitoshi demanded, holding back the urge to fuss over the other boy. He knew it would just rile him up.
“Hold on, Izuku is calling,” Denki interrupted. Katsuki’s eyes widened and he shook his head, but Denki had already answered and put the call on speaker phone.
“Hey, have you seen Kacchan today?” Izuku asked.
Katsuki was still shaking his head, waving his hand in front of him to tell Denki not to respond.
“Uh . . . no, I haven’t. ‘Toshi and I just got off work.”
“Shit.” Izuku muttered something to someone with him. “Okay. We had an accident during an attack and Katsuki took a bad hit. He was in the hospital, but he broke himself out and we can’t find him.”
Denki and Hitoshi both turned to glare at Katsuki.
“Actually, now that I think of it, he’s right here,” Denki said, looking at Katsuki disapprovingly.
“Shut up, Deku, I’m fucking fine!” Katsuki yelled at him, but then he groaned and leaned over and Denki almost dropped his phone.
“We’ll get him back to the hospital,” Denki said.
“Oh thank god, Shouto and I will wait here if you can manage him. Or we could come help. We could probably-”
“No, it’s fine. ‘Toshi and I can wrangle him, and we have a car,” Denki said. Hitoshi knelt by Katsuki to assess where his injuries were before they tried to get him up, batting away Katsuki’s hands when he tried to push Hitoshi over.
“When did you get a car?” Izuku asked in confusion.
“We’ll explain later,” Hitoshi said, “we should get going. Katsuki’s in a lot of pain.”
“I am not!” Katsuki scowled, but his nails digging into his thighs betrayed him. It was a familiar sight to Hitoshi; when Katsuki had first moved in over one of their summer breaks, he’d frequently used his nails on his hands, thighs, or arms to distract himself from pain or uncomfortable situations. Katsuki had told him once that he used his nails instead of his quirk because using his quirk around his parents got him punished. He never told him what that punishment was, but the unfamiliar sight of fear on the boy’s face was enough to tell Hitoshi not to push for more information. At least yet.
One day they’d talk about it.
“Why do you have a car?” Katsuki asked, curiosity winning out over indignation for just a moment.
“Top 50 hero, baby,” Denki winked, grabbing at Katsuki’s arm and hooking it over his shoulder. Hitoshi did the same on the other side and Katsuki held his breath.
“Pain?” Hitoshi asked.
“No,” Katsuki denied through gritted teeth. “Just pick me up already, dumbasses.”
“So you’ll go to the hospital?”
Katsuki growled at him. “If it’ll make you two stop fuckin’ fussing over me, then fine. But I’m not staying overnight.”
They lifted him up almost too easily, and Hitoshi was shocked at how light he felt. Then again, Katsuki had always been pretty lean, his build equipped more for agility as his body seemed to take his quirk’s impact well naturally.
Denki must have asked the driver to wait, because the man asked no questions as they wrangled Katsuki into the backseat.
“I don’t get the whole fuss,” Katsuki complained, as if every single bump they hit didn’t make him suck in a pained breath. He was also sweating profusely and white as a sheet.
“Shut up,” Hitoshi told him. “We’ll talk to them about letting you go home with us, but only if you’ll behave.”
Katsuki’s retort got cut off by them reaching the hospital, the sight of Shouto and Izuku standing by the entrance making him wince.
“Why didn’t they go home,” he complained.
“Because they’re worried about you, you idiot,” Denki snapped, uncharacteristically stressed. Katsuki didn’t look well at all, and it was taking a toll on Denki. That was fine. Hitoshi could keep it together.
At least, he thought so until Katsuki took one step out of the car and promptly collapsed, almost dragging Denki down with him.
He wasn’t out for long, he woke up almost as soon as he hit the ground, but Hitoshi still flipped for a second. He may have yelled a little. He wasn’t sure. All he knew was that Katsuki had a lecture coming his way for shortening Hitoshi’s life span.
“It was really scary,” Izuku said when they sat down to wait as Katsuki was looked over again. “We were chasing down an earth-type quirk user who demolished part of his old workplace, and he started caving in a parking garage. Shouto got stuck holding a huge chunk of it up before it could fall into the street, and I was taking hits from the suspect. Neither of us noticed this civilian girl that got trapped. The suspect collapsed several floors of the parking garage and it created this wide open space inside just full of rubble and dust.”
“It was impossible to see for a few moments,” Shouto agreed solemnly. “We’re not sure what exactly happened while it fell, but we’ve gathered that the girl fell with it and broke her leg on impact.”
“Yeah, she couldn’t move and Kacchan doesn’t have any method of pulling people away,” Izuku continued. “Shouto could have used his ice or I could have used Black Whip, but as the debris fell, Kacchan had to just blast it away before it could collapse onto her. I guess there was too much to keep trying that way, and when we finally realized what was happening, it was too late. Kacchan-“ Izuku stopped for a moment, choking up. “I’m sorry, it’s just been a while since any of us have gotten that close to dying, y’know? He just dove in there under all of the falling rubble and protected her with his own body. All we could do was watch.”
“We thought he was gone,” Shouto said when Izuku cut himself off to take a deep breath. Hitoshi couldn’t blame the other boy. Shouto and Izuku worked at Endeavor’s Agency with Katsuki, and the three were pretty close even if Katsuki denied it. Katsuki and Izuku had come a long way since their first year at UA, and Shouto had just elbowed himself into the friendship in his own blunt, straight-to-the-point way. Taking down All-For-One had put a strain on the three of them that the rest of the class could only understand in part, and that had solidified the friendship. In fact, Hitoshi was certain the only reason the three of them hadn’t opted to live together was because Katsuki had refused to live with a couple, and Shouto and Izuku had gotten together in their final year at UA.
Shouto put an arm around Izuku and started rubbing his shoulder comfortingly, and Hitoshi was glad he had Denki pressed into his side on the bench they were waiting on. The physical contact was the only thing grounding him. He needed to call Mic and Aizawa, but he wanted to hear the whole story first.
“They were trying to explain his condition to us when he went MIA,” Izuku said finally. “Obviously he’s mostly okay, but he was so fucking- well, smashed, the healing quirks here couldn’t get him fixed all the way. They put most of their effort into fixing bones and organs so he’s still got all the bruising and cuts and his arm didn’t fully mend.”
“Organs?” Denki asked in a small voice.
“I guess he broke multiple ribs and they pierced into his lungs,” Izuku explained. “He looked- it was horrible. I can’t believe he’s up and moving even after the healing they managed to do. He saved that girl, though. She’s fine, just has some cuts and her leg is getting fixed up.”
“Of course he did,” Denki said resolutely. “When Katsuki decides to do something, he’s gonna make it happen somehow.”
“That’s true,” Hitoshi snorted, trying to loosen his tense jaw and relax a little. Katsuki was alright. He was alright enough to drag himself home out of sheer stubbornness. “That fucking idiot. Who breaks out of the hospital and drags themselves home?”
“Katsuki,” Denki said, giggling a little. “He’s so stupid. Why doesn’t he ever just let people help him?”
Hitoshi knew roughly why, but even he couldn’t answer in detail. He just knew it had to do with Katsuki’s family. And maybe his kidnapping in their first year. And the way teachers and pro heroes treated him in his first year as well. There were a lot of factors, now that he was thinking about it.
“I need to call Aizawa,” Hitoshi said, moving to stand up.
“No need,” someone said from down the hallway, and Hitoshi turned to see Aizawa hurrying up to them, Mic hot on his heels.
“How is he?” Mic asked urgently when they reached the little group gathered in the waiting room.
“He’s okay,” Hitoshi reassured them quickly. “He got pretty beat up it sounds like, but the idiot broke out of here and dragged himself back to the apartment for a bit, so I’d say he’ll make it.”
“How did you know to come?” Denki asked.
“I’m his emergency contact,” Aizawa said, collapsing into a chair. “His agency called me, and I got ahold of Mic and headed straight over. All they said was that a mission went south and that Katsuki would be here.”
Izuku and Shouto were looking at Aizawa and Mic in confusion, and Hitoshi realized they were going to have to explain some things that Katsuki didn’t want them to know. It was bound to happen one day, however, and it wasn’t like any of them wanted to take that choice away from Katsuki. Still, he wasn’t going to be happy about it.
“Are his parents coming?” Izuku asked, still looking confused.
Aizawa’s face hardened, though not in anger at Izuku himself. “No,” he said firmly.
Mic looked between Izuku and Shouto and then sighed. “Katsuki no longer has contact with his parents.”
“When did that happen?” Izuku asked in shock. Hitoshi sometimes forgot that he’d grown up with Katsuki.
“Near the end of second year,” Hitoshi said. “He came to stay with us over breaks, and Aizawa became his emergency contact. Katsuki didn’t want anyone to know.”
“So that is how the two of you became close so quickly,” Shouto said, looking at Hitoshi intently. “I always wondered.”
“You also thought I was a secret child of Aizawa’s,” Hitoshi retorted, and Mic snorted.
“The resemblance is uncanny,” Shouto mumbled petulantly.
Aizawa crossed his arms and tried to look grumpy, but Hitoshi could tell he was stressed.
“How bad was it?” He asked Shouto and Izuku.
Izuku looked pained. “I thought we lost him. He’s probably only alive because of his natural blast resistance. A few floors of a parking garage got destroyed and he took the brunt of the falling debris to cover a civilian.”
“Shit.” Mic ran a hand over his face. “That kid is so fucking reckless.”
“I mean, it worked?” Denki said. “I’m not saying it wasn’t reckless, but it was his only option. Letting a civilian die isn’t one. Not for Katsuki. He might call them extras or whatever, but he cares.”
“You’re right, kid,” Mic said, “he’s just giving me gray hairs.”
“You and me both,” Hitoshi muttered.
“He is going to turn the other half of my hair white,” Shouto agreed, and Denki burst out laughing.
“Good to see you haven’t changed,” Aizawa said to Shouto. “Thank you for trying to look out for him. I know it’s an insurmountable task.”
“Let’s just say that I’m pretty sure Kacchan has a separate insurance pack from everyone else,” Izuku said, widening his eyes and staring at the floor for emphasis.
“Don’t even tell me unless it’s something I can help with,” Aizawa said. “If it’s out of my control, I’ll just stress myself into an early grave.”
“Did he really break out and go home?” Mic asked.
“Denki and I got off work and found him outside our apartment building,” Hitoshi explained. “I guess he dragged himself there, but he was in such bad shape he couldn’t even get up the front steps. We had to carry him to the car.”
Aizawa’s face was speaking volumes, and in any other scenario, Hitoshi would find it funny. Now, he just wanted to see Katsuki in one piece with his own eyes again, and then take a long nap. Maybe just go to bed and not get up until morning. That sounded nice.
A tentative hand wrapped around his arm, and he turned to see Denki smiling up at him reassuringly. All Hitoshi could do was look away to hide his red face.
Katsuki was very high on the pain meds they’d had to give him on top of the healing quirk, and Denki may or may not have been filming him once they got back to the apartment. He wasn’t saying much yet, but he’d definitely been having trouble sitting upright. Mic and Aizawa helped wrangle him up the stairs and onto the couch before leaving with a promise to check back in the next day, and Hitoshi was glad they weren’t there to witness the next part.
He and Denki were going to have to get Katsuki into different clothing. His costume had been destroyed and then the nurse had ended up getting him into some sort of hospital gown (with pants thankfully), and as hilarious as it was, Katsuki had managed to rip it in his drug-induced clumsiness. He also knew that Katsuki would be more comfortable in regular clothing, and since there wasn’t much else they could do to help him, he figured they could at least find him some sweatpants. He was falling asleep, but they were told not to let him lie down for a bit due to the healing quirk that was used on him, and Hitoshi felt bad forcing him awake over and over.
“Don’t go in his room, though,” Denki said, trying to prop Katsuki upright with pillows. “You know how he is.”
Katsuki was extremely defensive of his privacy, and Hitoshi didn’t blame him. After an entire childhood of feeling less than human, having something as simple as a space you could call completely your own was not to be taken lightly. Other than accidental glimpses through the opening or closing door, Denki and Hitoshi had never seen inside of Katsuki’s room. Hitoshi didn’t even think he was hiding anything- Katsuki just needed to know that nothing in there had been touched or changed without his knowledge.
That did complicate things a bit, however, because they needed clothes for him.
“Just grab something from my room,” Denki said, patting Katsuki on the cheek. “Hey, big guy, gotta wake up.”
Hitoshi snorted. “Denks, I love you but you’re a bit smaller than he is.”
Denki frowned. “I’m not sure about that. He’s awfully light.”
“I meant shorter, but I suppose.” Hitoshi headed to his own room and grabbed some sweatpants and a t-shirt, coming back out to hang them over the back of the couch. “I have no gauge on how heavy he’s supposed to feel, and he’s never mentioned if his quirk affects it or not.”
“That’s true.” Denki looked thoughtful. “I mean, he’s super strong, so I can’t imagine he’s underweight. Hey- Katsuki. Stay awake.”
“Hnnnngh,” Katsuki complained, moving to bat Denki’s hand away and then slumping to the side.
“He’s adorable,” Denki giggled, catching Katsuki’s head in his hand as it lolled to the side. “Look how sweet he looks when he isn’t trying to kill me.”
“I’ll fuck you up,” Katsuki mumbled. “Lemme sleep.”
“No can do,” Denki said. “You’ve got twenty more minutes before you can go to bed safely. Also, ‘Toshi and I need to get you into better clothes.”
Katsuki blinked at him, suddenly looking more awake. “No.”
“Bro, you can’t even sit up right-“
“I said no.” Katsuki did his best to scowl at him, and Denki sighed.
“How about this,” Hitoshi interrupted. “You change in here where there’s more space so you won’t hurt yourself if you fall, and Denki and I will turn around; but if we hear you struggling too much we’re gonna come help.”
Katsuki glared. Hitoshi stared back in unamusement. Katsuki glared harder, swaying slightly. Hitoshi raised his eyebrows.
Katsuki scoffed. “Fine. But if either of you turns around when I’m not having trouble, I’ll blast you to hell.”
“You can’t tell me not to do something,” Denki whined, “it just gives me the urge to do it.”
“Curb your compulsive spirit and turn the fuck around,” Hitoshi ordered. Denki sat backward in the armchair with his knees up to his chest, chin resting on the back while he pouted.
“You’re so damn stubborn, Katsuki,” he complained. “You’re gonna hurt yourself.”
Katsuki tried to stick his tongue out, and Hitoshi rolled his eyes as he helped him stand up and handed him the clothes.
“I will be very annoyed if you injure yourself,” he said before turning around.
“Yeah, whatever.”
It took quite a lot of time and shuffling noises for Katsuki to change, but he somehow managed to without falling over. He seemed worn out from the effort, however, and Denki went right back to propping him up with an obscene amount of pillows.
Hitoshi flipped on the TV once they were settled, and the news station flared onto the screen. The room went silent as a grainy photo of what seemed to be Katsuki appeared in the corner as the reporter talked.
“-young girl who was rescued says that she believes she would have died if pro hero Ground Zero hadn’t thrown himself into harm's way for her. Ground Zero sparked public interest years ago when the villain known as All-For-One was defeated, but many at the time viewed him as an unruly, out-of-control teen. Now, this footage tells a different story.”
To Hitoshi’s horror, the grainy photo filled the screen and then started to move, and it was suddenly apparent that it was security camera footage from the parking garage. The three occupants of the couch sat in shock and watched as the video played out, showing Katsuki blasting away the projectiles and then flinging himself right under them to cover the girl with his body. It was low-quality and dark, but the events of the video were clear.
Hitoshi wanted to throw up. Denki shifted uncomfortably. Neither dared look at Katsuki.
Just as Hitoshi was about to switch the channel, however, the screen changed to show a teenage girl standing outside of the hospital with a reporter.
“This brave young survivor was just discharged from the hospital and agreed to an interview. How are you feeling?”
The girl on screen looked like she could barely contain her excitement, even though she was leaning on crutches. “Hi, my name is Emiko, and Ground Zero saved my life!”
“Emiko, what were you thinking when you found yourself in that situation?” The reporter asked, and Denki snorted.
“Probably ‘oh shit, oh fuck, I’m gonna die,’” he said.
“I felt like I was gonna die, I was terrified! I didn’t really understand what was going on, it was hard to see and all I heard were loud explosions. I could feel little rocks and dust hitting me, but I couldn’t move because of my leg.”
“So it looks like Ground Zero shielded you with his own body, is that true?”
“He did! It was crazy. He didn’t save me from far away or show up just to hit the flashy villain, he put his own life directly on the line just for mine. As if a pro hero wasn’t worth any more than one random civilian he’s never met. He didn’t say anything but he looked . . . scared for me. Then all of the debris hit and I think I passed out. I never got to thank him.”
Katsuki looked nauseated when Hitoshi turned to him.
“Do you want me to turn it-“
“Leave it.”
“Well, Emiko, I hope he sees this interview so he knows that you’re grateful! What an impressive save indeed. Do you have any last thoughts?”
“I just want to tell Ground Zero that I owe him my life and also my faith in pro heroes! Even if I almost died today, I somehow feel safer knowing there are heroes like him out there.”
The reporter said goodbye and the screen flipped back over to another news story. Katsuki looked shocked.
“Someone’s got themselves a fan girl,” Denki joked, and Katsuki scowled at him.
“I should have been able to save her with less risk,” he said. “It wasn’t good enough.”
Denki leveled a glare at him. “Dude, you saved her life! There were no casualties in a situation where there easily could have been. You should be proud of yourself. You did the best you could with what you had.”
“What I have isn’t enough. I need to do better.”
“You need to heal first,” Hitoshi sighed. “Then we can brainstorm.”
“We?” Katsuki questioned.
“Yeah. We’ll solve this problem. Together.”
“I don’t need your help,” Katsuki grumbled, though it was far less angry-sounding than it would have been in highschool.
“I know,” Hitoshi said, “but you’re gonna get it anyway.”
Once the prescribed time had passed, Denki stopped poking and prodding at Katsuki to keep him awake, and Katsuki fell asleep on the couch shortly after. He was dangerously close to drooling on Hitoshi’s shoulder, but Denki seemed to find it extremely endearing. His golden eyes were full of undeniable fondness when he returned from the kitchen with drinks, and Hitoshi had to look away to hide his blush.
He was being ridiculous. Denki was like that with everyone, Hitoshi wasn’t special. Besides, Katsuki was the one that had given them all a scare that day, surely Denki was just relieved to see him sleeping peacefully. Especially since Hitoshi was certain Denki had noticed Katsuki’s frequent sleep terrors or late night trips to the kitchen for a distraction. The boy might go to bed early, but he didn’t always stay there.
Denki settled in on Katsuki’s other side and started looking for a movie to watch, but Hitoshi wasn’t paying much attention. He’d been banking on this crush going away at least after a few years, but here he was- still blushing like a little kid whenever Denki so much as smiled at him or complimented him. Katsuki teased him about it mercilessly but was at least kind enough not to say anything in front of Denki, and yet Hitoshi was still surprised that he hadn’t figured it out.
Transferring into a class that had gone through countless traumatizing events together before he had even shown up had been rough. Hitoshi was just a fucked up kid fumbling his self-confidence like it was burning his hands, scared of his peers and trying to hide it behind a threat to take them all down. Denki, however, hadn’t cared one bit. The boy had taken one look at Hitoshi and dragged him into the fold, catching him off guard with friendship and compliments. All Hitoshi could do was follow, hopelessly infatuated from the beginning. He’d be inclined to say that Denki was the sun and he was the moon, but Denki’s entire personality (as bright as it may be) had been centered around reflecting the best parts of his friends back to them and to the world. He was loud and colorful and energetic, but he always grabbed the spotlight just so he could shine it on the people he cared about.
Living with him had terrified Hitoshi at first. He’d worried that he’d slip up somehow, make it too obvious. But after some time, he’d realized that while Denki may be good at reading people, he struggled with understanding how people felt about him. Hitoshi could relate. Part of him had a small flame of hope deep, deep inside that thought that maybe Denki felt the same, but Denki was so outspoken. Surely he would have said something by now.
Besides, he was flying up the ladder to success. Denki was meant for greater things than Hitoshi could ever hope for, and the greatest thing he’d ever hoped for had been Denki himself, anyway. His aspirations weren’t as high as Denki’s because he wasn’t made for that type of thing. He was happy to live in the background of his life. He just hoped he’d always have a place there.
“You won’t forget me when you’re rich and famous, will you?” He teased Denki, trying to hide his vulnerability behind a joke.
Denki laughed. “How could I ever? You’re gonna be right there with me.”
Warmth spread through Hitoshi’s chest, and he could barely suppress a smile. “You mean you’re not gonna get that first Top 50 Hero paycheck and go find a nicer apartment? Leave me and Katsuki to fill the holes in the walls and struggle to get the fruit punch stain out of the carpet?”
Denki scoffed. “First of all, do you really think this fucker right here is gonna take this whole thing lying down? He’s gonna be shooting up the ranks in no time, mark my words. Second of all, if I move out, you’re fucking coming with me. You know I hate washing the dishes, having my hands wet for too long makes me freak out.”
This fucking idiot. Hitoshi rolled his eyes. “You think I’m gonna let someone with an electricity quirk wash the dishes? You’re lucky we let you use the shower.”
“Hey!” Denki reached over Katsuki to give Hitoshi’s cheek a gentle zap. He did it all the time, and Hitoshi was unfazed. “And here I was trying to find an apartment with a gothic penthouse for my Batman to perch creepily atop of while scouring the streets for crime.”
“‘Your Batman?’”
“You, duh! You’re emo and brooding and you even sit like he does when you stop on rooftops while on patrol.”
“I do not!” Hitoshi protested, even though he most definitely did.
“You totally do! But it’s okay, because then I can be your Robin!” Denki shot a thumbs up his way, beaming at him like he couldn’t believe how smart he was.
Hitoshi snorted. “In what world are you my sidekick?”
“Strong, pensive, intimidating emo dude and cheery, colorful, happy-go-lucky sidekick! It’s perfect. Ooh! Let’s watch a Batman movie. Lemme see what we’ve got.”
As Denki spiraled down his rabbit hole, Hitoshi tried to shake off the little flare of hope in his chest. Denki was just like that. It didn’t mean anything.